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Berhampur: Odisha's most wanted Maoist leader Sabyasachi Panda managed to give the slip once again after a firefight with security forces in a jungle in Ganjam district on Saturday.
The security forces learnt about the camp during a combing operation by the police and district volunteer force in a forested area on the border of Ganjam and Kandhamal districts, police sources said.
When the security forces closed in on the camp, the Maoists started firing and Panda escaped, the sources said.
At least eight persons, including Panda, were present in the camp during the exchange of fire and some of them might have been killed in the gun-battle, they said.
The camp operated by Panda, the chief of the Odisha Maowadi Party, was destroyed, DIG, Southern Range, Amitabh Thakur said.
"The search operation is going on to locate bodies in the jungle, if any," Superintendent of Police, Ganjam, Ashish Kumar Singh said.
Several arms and ammunition, rations, nine kit bags and several personal belongings were recovered from the camp.
"We are yet to make a list of the seized items. The details will be known only after completion of the operation," the SP said.
